Saints may have suffered their second defeat in a row, but they are still handily placed to move up the table with a win next weekend.

Saints have dropped to tenth place after the completion of the weekend's fixtures, however 10th on 20 points is still a good place to be in at this stage of the season and now Saints need to put the two straight defeats behind them and move up a place or two.

A home win against Aston Villa next week could do just that, with the right results, Saints could go as high as 6th in the table and find themselves within touching distance of the top five.

This has been a season of ups and downs, but that seems to always be the way for Saints, but whatever the issues to be 10th and in this position, is still a good launching pad for the second half of the season.

If we can get to this position whilst not firing on all cylinders then when we do put a run of wins together we can move up the table and challenge for Europe again, some Saints fans are disappointed as last season started so well, but progress is not always smooth and you have to work at it, that's the case this term and f we do there is still no reason why we should not emulate last season and even better.

Our first aim is to consolidate our position as a top eight side, that is the aim for this season, outside of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool Spurs and the two Manchester clubs there are few clubs who have achieved three top eight finishes in a row and if we can do that, that will be some achievment.

But we Saints supporters have to stay behind the club and team and not panic every time we suffer a defeat.

Photo: Action Images

1970 added 18:53 - Nov 29 Finishing in the top eight will be a great achievement, I still think Palace's first eleven on there day are better than Liverhampton but just behind Spuds, I think we are some way down but we have lost our goalkeeper twice now to injury and been forced to put in not so great replacements, but if we could hang around the top eight until the end of Jan then Forster could play a big part in some clean sheets and a late push, that's my hope anyway, otherwise Stekelenberg is not good enough and playing Yoshida at right back will see us drop like a stone coyr.

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IWOZTHERE added 20:03 - Nov 29 I can't see the point in blaming individuals although it's hard not to slam Yoshida after Saturday. This was a collective failure and should include RK for strange team selection and perhaps a limited game plan.I'd like to see Forster back but I don't think any blame can be apportioned to Stekelenberg for recent losses, in fact I thought he had a good game against City, particularly given the conditions.

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SaintNick added 21:00 - Nov 29 I dont like to blame individuals either, but sometimes you cant ignore what the fact is
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Jesus_02 added 09:15 - Nov 30 Yeah I blame Yoshida too, he should never have sold Chambers and not replaced him, then sold Clyne and replaced him with "one for the future"
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IWOZTHERE added 14:07 - Nov 30 The policy is sell high and buy low. We've had some successes but it's bound to catch up with us if it continues unquestioned. We've also sold our home grown 'valuables', but we're not in Div. one now so the 'new crop' aren't getting 1st team experience. That particular conveyor belt, and ultimately'money machine', seems to be stalling, which is a shame. It's been part of the club's ethos and success story, but now seems to be in question. As an example, Harrison Reed has the potential to be a valuable player and worth 'big bucks' but if understandably he wanted to move on, how much would he be worth at this time? In this respect we're victims of our own success. Hope the Club have an answer, cos I haven't!

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